Behind the (Yellow) Line, Through a (Shifting) Door
by Shenaniganon
Summary: Lisa Loud entertains a visitor from...elsewhere. A short Loud Verse fic, and an epilogue of sorts to "Freak Club".


"Hmm…looks like it won't be any trouble." Lisa Loud stared at her screen, as she watched her nephew walk away from the track, while her niece remained behind for a few more rounds of sprinting. Lisa pressed a button on the console in front of the screen, and the image zoomed out, taking its place among about two dozen other video feeds, of various locales, both around town and further out. "I probably didn't even need to worry. Honestly, closely monitoring their feed just because Marla mentioned skeletons in my closet…it's not like I've confided any damaging secrets with her, after all. Still…"

Lisa glanced over at the edge of the table, which her daughter Lulu was holding onto tightly, keeping her balance as she stood up straight. Lisa sighed as she patted her daughter on the head, saying, "I guess it's alright. I mean, even if the worst were to happen, that's why we keep Class-A amnestics on hand, isn't it, Lulu?"

"Muh?" Lulu made a questioning sound, muffled by the pacifier in her mouth.

"Mhmmhmm…" Lisa chuckled as she stroked her daughter's hair before turning back to her desk. "All right, I suppose that's enough slacking off for the moment. Now then, where was I…"

"Hello? Helloooo~? Anybody here?"

"…Hmmm?" Lisa spun around in her chair at the voice. Someone was in the lab…but she was having trouble placing who the voice belonged to. It wasn't any of the kids…but it also didn't sound like one of her sisters…so who…?

"Oh…oh no." Lisa shot up out of her chair, startling Lulu for a moment, who let go of the table and plopped down on her rear. Lisa leaned down and picked up the baby before quickly sprinting through the lab, muttering "No no no no no…" as she ran past banks of machines, running across the yellow line which, only the day before, she had admonished Lupa and Lyle for getting close to.

Once past the yellow line, Lisa darted past a couple more machines before arriving at her destination: a large, triangular-shaped device, with a hole in the center that was about seven feet from the top to the floor. Inside this hole was a mass of swirling light, changing colors kaleidoscopically as she viewed it, contained by the device.

Of course, Lisa was uninterested in the device…that, she had known was here, as she had made it herself. But the person standing in front of the device, the young woman with long brown hair wearing a conspicuous face mask and carrying a large backpack, was another matter entirely.

"Hello? He…oh." The young woman turned to Lisa. "Hey, Mom. Good to see…"

"Hold it right there!" Lisa whipped out a small device with a joystick and buttons on it. With the press of a red button, several panels opened up near the swirling-light device and revealed laser turrets, all of which activated and pointed at the device and the young woman standing in front of it. "State your universe designation and purpose immediately!"

"Wha…hey, hey, calm down now!" The woman put her hands up as she glanced nervously at the weapons that were now trained on her. "There's no need for…"

"DESIGNATION! AND! PURPOSE!" Lisa cut her off as she repeated her demands.

"Fine! I'm from Z-29! We saw each other, like, literally five days ago, when you visited my version of you for a 'meeting of the mind'!" The young woman answered. "And my purpose is…uh…I guess sanctuary? Does that work?"

"…Sanctuary?" Lisa hit a blue button on her handheld device, and the weapons pointed at the young woman powered down…but did not retract into the wall just yet. "What in the world did you do that required you to seek sanctuary, Z-29?"

"It's…kind of a long, embarrassing story. I just need to lay low for a while, ok?" She replied, glancing at the weapons still pointed at her. "So, can I stay or what?"

Lisa thought about it for a moment, before sighing and pressing the blue button on her device again. This time, the laser turrets retracted back into the walls and disappeared from view in an instant. "Oh, very well. But I expect you to have a good explanation for showing up unannounced, young missy."

"Phew…thanks, Mom." The young woman let out a breath as she dropped her hands. "What's with the harsh welcome, though?"

"I'd…rather not go into details, but…" Lisa rolled her eyes as she pocketed the device. "…let's just say that after voyaging into Universe F-93, I decided this portal's security needed a bit of an upgrade."

"Ahuh…guess I'll avoid that one in the future, then." The visitor walked up to Lisa, looking at Lulu in her arms before ruffling the baby's hair as she said, "Hey, little me. How's it going?"

"Buh…puhehe…" The baby bristled initially at the touch, but eventually started giggling as the young woman played with her hair.

"She's taken to you quickly…maybe she can sense the similarities between the two of you." Lisa took note of her daughter's unusually quick warming up to the young woman. "Also, know that I plan on calling you Z-29 while you're here. I'd probably confuse her if I started calling both of you Lulu, after all."

"Nah, that's fine with me…like, do you want me to stop calling you Mom?" The older Lulu continued to play with her younger self's hair as she asked.

"I'm fine with it…as long as you can come up with an alibi in case one of the others finds their way down here and sees you." Lisa sighed. "The last thing I need is for my family to wonder why a woman just a few years younger than I am is calling me her maternal unit."

"Right, right, I get that." The older Lulu stopped playing with the baby version of her, who seemed to be nodding off in her mother's arms. "Oh, looks like little me is ready for a nap."

"It's probably about that time…plus, it'll give me time to speak with you on your situation." Lisa turned and started walking towards the laboratory exit. "I'll put her down for a nap, then we can talk."

Lisa kept an eye on Lulu sleeping quietly in bed as she closed the door to the baby's bedroom, before turning on the baby monitor in her hand. The picture of Lulu continuing to peacefully nap came up quickly, and, her job done, Lisa quickly returned through the lab doors, where her other daughter was waiting for her.

Er…not other daughter, other version of her daughter. The older one. That came from an alternate version of this universe. All of that made sense to Lisa, naturally.

As Lisa descended the steps, said older version of her daughter was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. "She's out?"

"Yes, it appears that she's happily ensconced in NREM for the time being." Lisa checked the baby monitor and confirmed no change in baby Lulu's status. "She'll be good for at least 90 minutes."

Adult Lulu nodded. "That's good…and hey, thanks for letting stay, Mom."

"Well, don't thank me yet…I'm still holding my decision on whether you're allowed to stay, young lady." Lisa pocketed the baby monitor and started walking back to her main station in the lab, motioning for Lulu to follow.

"Huh?" Surprise flashed on Lulu's face as she started tailing behind Lisa. "But you literally just said…"

"What I SAID was that I expect a very good explanation for why it is you came to universe H-84." Lisa continued to walk without breaking her pace as she spoke to her alternate daughter. "Exactly HOW good that explanation is will determine whether I allow you to stay for any longer period of time or whether you will be promptly returned to the Z-29 version of me."

"That…right, ok." Lulu started to protest, but clearly thought better of it. "That makes sense, I guess."

"Mmhmm. Now then…" Lisa arrived at her station, spinning the chair around to take a seat. "…you can go ahead and get started at any time."

"So…first things first." Lulu raised a finger. "If you really think about it, this is all Lemy's fault, ok?"

Lisa stared back at her older daughter for a moment before sighing, taking a sip of the now-lukewarm coffee that was on her desk and muttering, "If I had a nickel for the amount of times I've heard that statement, I'd have sufficient coins to fill a pool big enough for that cartoon anatid to swim in it."

"You mean Scrooge McDuck?", suggested Lulu.

"Is that his name?" Lisa glanced at her daughter, who nodded back to her. "Right, that one. In any case, continue."

"Well, like, my version of Lemy gets busted for…shoplifting, I think? Something dumb like that." Lulu grabbed a chair from a nearby table and dragged it over, sitting down as she continued her story. "Whatever it was isn't important. What is important is that Dad goes to bail Lemy out, as 'Uncle Lincoln'. And for whatever reason, after he bails him out, this cop decides he's gonna tail them home. Dunno if he was suspicious of something, or he was just a dick and wanted to do the whole 'scare 'em straight' routine, but the end result of it was, we had a COP hanging around outside the house."

"That is a situation we would rather avoid, given the circumstances of our family." Lisa nodded along as she continued to gulp down her remaining coffee.

"Yeah, we were all a little freaked out, when Aunt Leni brought Liena home from preschool and asked who the man in the nice blue car with the binoculars was." Lulu shook her head. "Dad was literally scared to death. Aunt Lily and Mom…er, my version of you…weren't home, and we were a little nervous to try out Aunt Lola's plan, since…well…"

Lisa held up her hand. "Trust me, Z-29, the less you say about a plan that springs from any version of Lola, the better."

"Agreed." Z-29 Lulu nodded. "So, while they're arguing about what to do, I come up with an idea. I figure if this cop sees something else happen that's…way bigger than our simple little family, then he'll leave us alone."

"Hmm, makes sense." Lisa placed her empty cup down and picked up a clipboard and a pencil. "If you overwhelm him with some major event, he'll lose focus on an investigation of the household. But…I'm guessing this plan of yours might have worked a bit…too well?"

"Uh…like…" The young woman appeared to get smaller in her chair as she squirmed a bit under Lisa's gaze. Finally, after a moment of stammering, she said, "I…kinda pretended to be a 'monster from the deep' creature and flipped his car over. And…then I ate his gun. And one of the tires."

There was a brief moment of silence hanging in the air. Lisa calmly stared at her alternate daughter, then scratched something down on the paper on her clipboard and asked, "First off…why did you eat his gun?"

"Because he LITERALLY pointed a gun at me!" Lulu protested. "I guess he thought I was just some kid in a disguise…which, like, kinda. I guess. And then he points his gun at me, so…I thought it would scare him!"

"…I see…" Lisa was keeping up a stone face as she continued her inquest. "And the tire?"

Lulu thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Honestly, I was just kinda flowing at that point. The gun thing freaked him out, so I tried to follow up on it."

"Mmhmm." Lisa made more notes on the clipboard. "And did that secure the desired outcome?"

"Like, sort of? I got him to chase me into a forest about a mile away from the house, and then I lost him there. He called it in, and now the whole town is buzzing about 'the Bog Monster of Royal Woods'. Which, great, they're not poking around the house at the moment, but…at the same time…" Lulu sighed and pointed to her mouth, hidden behind the face mask. "This is…something of a giveaway as to who the 'Monster' is."

Puzzled, Lisa tilted her head and asked, "Can't you just alter the way your face looks?"

"What, you mean, like, makeup?" Lulu's eyebrow arched as she replied. "Because believe me, there's literally not enough makeup in the world to cover this mess up."

"No no, I mean shifting your facial structure," explained Lisa. "Can't you use your metamorphic abilities and change your face to a normal-looking one until the dust settles?"

Now the adult Lulu looked more confused. "Mom, I don't have that kind of ability. It'd be great if I did, but…"

"Wait…really?" Lisa perked up at that. "But…my version of you has always had that ability."

"Well, good for little me, I guess." Z-29 Lulu almost seemed pouty with that reply. "Would be GREAT if I could do something like that. But I can't. I've never been able to just change my body at will."

"Innnnterestiiiiing…" Lisa began to furiously jot down some notes on her clipboard before she looked back to Lulu and said, "Well, in that case, I guess makeup would be the best option. I'm sure your mouth looks unusual, but I can't imagine it's…"

A deep sigh escaped Lulu's mouth before she grabbed the face mask and pulled it down enough for Lisa to make out what was behind it.

"SWEET PTOLEMY'S GHOST!" Lisa shouted as she recoiled in terror.

"Yeah…like I said, makeup is not an option. Trust me, even Aunt Leni gave up on that one." Z-29 Lulu pulled the face mask back up to cover up the horror. "And, since I can't hide this, if I hung around that universe, I could draw suspicion to myself. So I needed to…y'know, lay low somewhere."

"That's…a logical conclusion." Lisa composed herself after the scare of seeing Z-29's uncovered maw. "Why come through the portal to another universe, though? Couldn't you have hid out at home?"

"That would have been nice, but after I lost the cops, I hid at the lab my version of you works at, since that was closer than the house," Lulu explained. "It's on the other side of town, and by the time I got cleaned up from my monster get-up, the town was on high alert. I couldn't get home…but, luckily enough, the lab had a portal device already up and running. I called Mom, and she agreed it would be easier to use the portal and hide out in another universe, so…here I am."

Lisa nodded as she continued to jot down notes. "Out of curiosity, why did you choose this universe?"

"I didn't…the portal device was just configured for this one, since the last time it was used was when you went back home after visiting us." Lulu pointed at Lisa. "So it was kinda just luck of the draw that I came here instead of some other universe."

"Ah…that would explain it." Lisa finished scribbling down some final notes, then reviewed what she had on the clipboard. After a moment's silence, she sighed and said, "I suppose that's fine, then. I don't mind if you stay here for a short time."

"Alright, yeah!" Lulu got out of her chair and gave Lisa a hug. "Thanks, Mom!"

"Urgh…too…tight!" Lisa patted Z-29 Lulu on the back, getting her daughter to let her go while she still had air in her lungs. "Zhe…huff…phew. Thank you. But don't think about getting too comfortable. As long as you're here, you'll be helping me log and conduct experiments. I could use the extra pair of hands."

"Oh, no sweat!" Lulu nodded. "I mean, like, I do that kind of stuff at home anyway, so that'll be fine. As long as you don't make me a guinea pig or anything."

"Uuhh, riiiiight." A crooked smile curled across Lisa's face. "Aaaanyway, we'll need to think up and alibi for you while you're here. Just in case anyone comes down to the lab and…"

"Hey Aunt Lisa!"

"Gah!" The two women shot out of their seats at the sound of the voice from behind Lisa. They quickly glanced over to the source to see Lacy, beaming brightly as she had climbed up on a nearby machine, was looking down at her aunt.

"L-Lacy!" Lisa yelled with exasperation. "How did you sneak up on me like that…and get off of that device, young lady!"

"Huh? Oh, right, right." Lacy got down from the machine at her aunt's command. "Sorry if I spooked you…I've seen Lupa do the whole 'sneak up and boo' routine enough times, I wanted to see if I could do it to someone else."

"Ah…great. Because we needed another practitioner of that trick." Lisa replied sarcastically. "In any event, may I ask why you're in my laboratory right now, Lacy? Shouldn't you be heading to school right now?"

"Yeah, I was about to, but I'm gonna practice on the way there, so I told Lupa and Lemy to head out ahead of me…you know, give 'em a head start and see if I can beat them." Lacy cheerily explained herself. "Before I go, though, Mom wanted me to tell you that Aunt Lucy's helping Dad with some errands, so it's just you and Lulu in the house until Aunt Lana gets back from dropping off Lizy at pre-school."

"Right…understood." Lisa sighed and nodded before putting down the clipboard she was holding and placing her hands on Lacy's shoulders, pushing her towards the lab's exit. "Ok, your missive has been received, now run along before you miss the bell, thank you, Lacy…"

"Okay, I'll be on my way now! Bye Aunt Lisa, and…other person…" Lacy had started to walk away, but after turning to wave to Lisa, she noticed the young woman standing behind her. "Wait, who's this, Aunt Lisa? I didn't know you had a guest over."

"Ooohhh…uhhh…" Lisa's eyes darted from the older version of her daughter standing behind her to her niece standing in front of her. "This is…her name is…Luuuu…uh, I mean…"

"Lou! Just Lou, actually." Z-29 Lulu jumped in to help her out her alternate mother. "I mean, technically it's short fooooor…Louise? But, uh, that's kind of an old-timey name, so…Lou is fine."

"Yes, that's right!" Lisa backed up the claim. "She's my…new lab assistant? She'll be here down here helping me for the next…couple weeks?"

Lacy's glanced at Lisa, then "Lou", then back to Lisa again, before she smiled and said, "Oh, okay! Well, I gotta get going…don't want those guys having TOO much of a head start. Anyway, bye Aunt Lisa! Nice to meet you, Lou, hope you feel better soon!"

And with a turn, Lacy headed for the exit, dashing out the door for her morning race.

Once she heard the lab doors close behind her, Lisa let out the breath she was holding. "That was a close one. Fortunately, Lacy isn't one to ask follow-up questions."

"No kidding…good thing this Lacy's pretty close to my Lacy." Lulu sat back down in her seat. "I know I won't have to change up my tactics with her too much."

"Indeed. Though now might be a good time to confirm the positions of the rest of the family…just in case someone slightly more perceptive is nearby." Lisa sat down in her chair, wheeling around to face the desk and tapping on the console. The video feeds she had been looking at earlier popped back up on the screen, as she quickly scanned each one…the kids were all at or heading to school, most of the adults were at work…a couple screens showed Lincoln and Lucy at the grocery store from different angles, and baby Lulu was fast asleep on a screen in the top corner.

"Everybody still out?" Lulu looked over the screens as she asked her mother.

"It would appear so…ah, Lana's on her way back, though." Lisa tapped on a button on the console and the image of Lana walking back from Lizy's preschool widened. "Though she's been preoccupied with the lawnmower, so I assume she'll start working on that as soon as she returns. We should be good for now."

"Man…seeing everyone like this just makes me realize how weird this universe is to me." Lulu muttered with awe as she glanced over the multiple video feeds. "Aunt Lily being so young, Aunt Lori being the oldest instead of the youngest…heck, Loan being the oldest kid, instead of a baby. It's just so weird from what I'm used to, y'know?"

"Well, from my perspective, a universe in which my daughter is just a few years younger than I am is the one that's outside the norm." Lisa glanced at Lulu, who chuckled lightly. "But I suppose I'm more used to it, as I've been to a few other universes, whereas you…I'm assuming this is your first time to another universe?"

"Pretty much. Mom's done enough tests that we know the portal device is safe, especially when you came and helped us work out the kinks, but no one where I'm from has gone through it to another universe until I needed to today," explained Lulu. "So no, I haven't been to any other universe weirder than this 'everyone's ages are weird from what I'm used to' one we're in now."

"Oh, trust me, that's nowhere near the oddest experience I've had since I activated this device." Lisa sighed. "Come back to me when you've visited the universe where we're all practically living in one of Liby's games of Dungeons and Dragons."

Lulu was watching the feed with Lizy playing at her preschool when she looked over to Lisa and asked, "Wait…like, seriously?"

"You don't even know the half of it, Z-29." Lisa shook her head. "Since I finished this device, I've had my eyes opened to quite a few different possible outcomes for our family. Not all of them entirely benign, as you can see from my elevated security protocols."

"Ah…yeah, I get what you mean." Lulu scratched her head. "So, if you've been to all these universes and seen all this weird stuff…what's the weirdest thing you've seen?"

"Well, that depends on what you qualify as 'weird', but…" Lisa thought for a moment before responding, "I would say the thing that…unsettled me the most would be the universes where Lincoln's proclivity towards incestuous relationships does not stop with his sisters."

There was a pause here before Lulu turned to her mother and said nothing more than a simple, flat, "…what."

"Haaah…yes, there are versions of Lincoln that sleeps with his children." Lisa sighed. "And ones that sleep with our mother. Sometimes both."

"Wait…really?!" Lulu was taken aback. "Even Grandma Rita?"

"Yeeeep." Lisa nodded slowly. "I've met their child. She's a doctor."

"Their…oh my god." Lulu put her head in her hands. "Ooooh, that's just so weeeird…"

"I suppose. But then again, that's just our perspective, because we come from universes where Lincoln and our mother's relationship is not like that." Lisa picked her clipboard with notes back up from the desk, flipping through a few pages. "We all have our biases because of that…You think that relationship is weird because your father's not like that. And I thought you could manipulate your facial structure because, well, my Lulu can. In other universes…well, let me ask you. Would you like to take a guess what the most common version of our family is in the universes I've been to?"

"Oh, uh…" Lulu thought about it for a moment. "I was gonna guess that they're literally just like one of our universes, but that's probably wrong, isn't it?"

"Correct." Lisa nodded. "In fact, in most of the universes I've visited, the Loud family consists of…just my parents, my siblings, and me. Their spouses, on occasion, and maybe children via those marriages. Absolutely no children of incestuous relationships…because there are no incestuous relationships."

"…oh. Right." Z-29 Lulu leaned back in her chair. "That…I mean, that makes the most sense, doesn't it?"

"Of course it does. The idea of a family engaging in incest like ours has is almost completely preposterous." Lisa continued to scan through her notes, sliding back in the chair as she did so. "In fact, when I met with a version of me from one of these universes, she expressed far more bewilderment at the idea that I had copulated and had a child with Lincoln than the idea that I had come from another universe after developing a portal between her universe and mine."

"Well, yeah. Heck, I can imagine it myself." Lulu was leaning back enough that she was now looking up at the ceiling. "Like, another me showing up, saying, 'Hey, I'm from another universe! Also, I've been fucking Lemy, here's our baby.' That last part would be waaaay weirder than the first part."

"And that is the reason why we need to keep our biases in mind when we think about other universes. We might think it's unusual to find universe so different from ours, but in those peoples minds, all this…" Lisa motioned to the monitor, with the video feeds of all the Louds. "…is the real aberration."

The two women sat in silence for a moment, before Lisa put the clipboard back down and got up from her chair. "Come on…let's find a place where you can sleep. We don't have any spare rooms in the house, but I'm sure we can find a quiet spot in the back of the lab where you can stay for a while."

"Ok…sounds good." Z-29 got up and followed Lisa as she walked into the lab. "I got a sleeping bag, so I don't need too much."

"I'll bring you some pillows, at least…make it a little comfortable." Lisa pulled the baby monitor out of her pocket and glanced at her sleeping baby. "After that…hmmm. Do you want me to look at your mouth? I might be able to help you with that."

"Really? Could you?" Lulu replied excitedly. "Yeah, please. Just…don't tell my version of you, ok?"

"Why's that?" Lisa glanced back at Lulu questioningly. "Would she object to the procedure?"

"Maybe? She's got this whole thing about studying how my mouth and face work in comparison to other humans." Lulu sighed. "It's just so annoying! I've asked her so many times to help me fix it, but every time she's all, like, 'nooo, there's so much more research to do'."

"Hmm…I can see where she's coming from, but…that's a bit much to ignore what you want like that." Lisa shrugged. "Well, I'll see what I can do. Maybe I can figure out a way to allow you to shift your face like my Lulu, but that might take some time."

"Oh, don't worry about it." There was a bit more pep in Z-29's step as she followed Lisa further into the lab. "As long as we can figure out a way to do it, I can wait a while for it."

"Alright then. We'll get started as soon as I find a place for you to sleep." Lisa nodded in confirmation. "You'll be out of those masks soon enough."

"Eh…actually, I might keep the mask." Lulu tapped at the piece of fabric in front of her face. "It's kind of my style now. Aunt Leni made me some really cute ones, too."

"Ah. I see you're like Sonnette in your choice of style, then. Or like Lemy with his headband." Lisa rolled her eyes. "So, if you don't mind the mask, why do you want your face changed so much?"

"Because I'm 19 years old and I want to start kissing boys at some point!" Lulu exclaimed. "Do you know how many cute boys I've pined over, knowing I could never get close because they'd see my face and think I was literally going to bite their heads off? It's a lot!"

Lisa stopped in her tracks, staring back at her daughter. After a beat, Lulu tilted her head and asked, "What?"

Another moment passed before Lisa started laughing, turning again and heading deeper into the lab. "Nothing, nothing…heheee…just…happy to see how, all things considered, you're quite a normal young lady after all."

"Uh…thanks?" Z-29 seemed a bit confused, but shook it off, her eyes smiling as she started following Lisa once more.


End file.
